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Promontory Quietly Opens Two Days Ahead of Schedule

By Sam Cholke | July 21, 2014 7:38pm
 The Promontory restaurant quietly opened Monday, two days ahead of the expected grand opening on Wednesday.
Promontory Opening
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HYDE PARK — The hotly anticipated Promontory restaurant opened two days ahead of schedule on Monday.

The hearths were glowing in the kitchen as the first diners wandered in at 5 p.m. to try the new venture from the owners of the Longman & Eagle restaurant and Empty Bottle venue, which wasn’t expected to open until Wednesday.

Co-Owner Bruce Finkelman said he was inspired by images of medieval village cooking being done around a single large fireplace, the rendering fat from a chunk of meat dripping into a pot of beans.

“What’s the oldest form of cooking? Fire,” Finkelman said.

Jared Wentworth of Michelin-star restaurant Longman & Eagle has developed a menu that revives primal heritage recipes like Kentucky burgoo, a stew of pork collar, quail and rabbit sausage.

“It doesn’t have to be molecular gastronomy, it doesn’t have to be the most complicated thing in the world,” Finkelman said. “Sometimes it just needs to be simple.”

The bar was also in full swing working from a menu of simple and classic cocktails.

Upstairs at 5311 S. Lake Park Ave., the music venue was still a work in progress.

Finkelman said he will start booking shows in the space in the beginning of August.

He said he’s going to let the tastes of the neighborhood and the South Side guide the acts he books, but he expects it to be an eclectic mix of everything from guitar rock to avant-garde jazz.

“We’ll see, there is such a storied musical history here,” Finkelman said.

As the Promontory presses toward its official opening on Wednesday, Finkelman said he expects the venue to become a destination for people in South Shore and beyond who now have more entertainment options closer than the Loop.

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